All About Us
by Fille des Fleurs
Summary: She was used to being forgotten about, hiding in the background. Humble or not, he was used to things revolving around him. Times change and opposites attract. What happens when it's not just about him, but about them? Cody Rhodes/OC


Nitro, once again. this time it's not a one shot, but an actual story I'm starting. WWWYKI! haha.

as always, comments and thoughts are much appreciated. I really do enjoy knowing what people thing about my work, good or bad. as long as it's put nicely, feel free to give as much constructive critism as your heart desires.  
this takes place during NXT season two, and as much as I actually enjoy that show and watch it every week, my memory fails me sometimes, so don't get too upset if I mess something up...please.  
I don't plan on this story being overly long, and it might not completely follow the timeline of the world/WWE, but we'll see how that goes.

Note: I don't own anything/anyone except Nala Kennedy. everyone else is owned by themselves/the McMahons, who are taking over the world. ahem.

onto the story! enjoy! :)

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A small brunette nervously scampered through the dark hallways, searching for light. Black boots stepped on wires, occasionally tripping. The brunette was merely a figure in the shadows looking for a way out, a way into the light where she would be noticed. Her situation was essentially a reflection of her personality: the shy, quiet girl who was always forgotten about and wanted nothing more than recognition and affection. She might have laughed if she wasn't so afraid.

A fear of the dark is something a young child should have, not a twenty-one year old aspiring wrestler. Nonetheless, that didn't stop her from being scared that any one of the large, muscular men she worked with daily would jump out at any moment and do who-knows-what to her.

A loud smack was heard as the figure rounded a corner. Sparks flew from the outlet which the cord was pulled from, the sight being accompanied by a small fizzing noise. The brunette fell harshly to the ground, landing on her forearms and elbows with a repulsive thudding sound. She winced, knowing that the bruises would show up and she would, once again, have to explain herself to the pros. They thought she was a young, stupid, defenseless thing anyway. Apparently her boss did too, as she was prevented from being on screen, yet was still under WWE contract and not allowed to participate in FCW matches anymore.

The petite girl heard footsteps approaching and quickly scrambled to get up only to find herself tangled in the mess of cords that she had tripped over. Her left knee stung from a where some of the sparks had hit it and also from scraping it along the hard and unforgiving floor. The brunette managed to get on her right knee, holding her left one and sitting helplessly with her head hung in embarrassment.

This was how she was found by the owner of the footsteps she had heard moments before. It was dark and he couldn't see much, but judging by her body language that he could see, she was ashamed.

He held out a hand, which she didn't take. He frowned and knelt down next to her, trying his best in the dim lighting to untangle the cords. She helped to the best of her ability, wincing when he bumped her sore left knee. He apologized and she said nothing, simply wishing for this moment to be over. She didn't even know who was helping her, which made it even more embarrassing. What if it was one of the rookies that enjoyed making fun of her? If it was one of the pros, she'd be even more mortified.

It was the beginning of season two of NXT, and she had been invited to the show. She thought she would actually get to be on it, but was hurtfully mistaken when she was told she was supposed to stay backstage and watch. She didn't make many friends that way, though LayCool was nice enough to let her train with them during the day while the ring was being set up and there was no audience.

The brunette tried to stand up, but her left knee gave out and she reached out for anything to grab onto, which happened to be her rescuer's coat. It felt silky and smooth to the touch, she noticed.

A chuckle and the man who had helped the petite girl pulled her up by the elbows a little rougher than he had planned. She winced, but didn't say a word about it.

"Thanks," she spoke quietly, patting down her hair and not even bothering to ask who this person was.

"No problem, Nala."

She felt a hand on the back of her left shoulder, gently pushing her forward into a more well lit area. She allowed herself to be led around like the lost, helpless little puppy she was. If she ever wanted to make it in this business, she needed to learn to be more assertive, but that would take time. For now, she just followed her rescuer into the light until she could figure out who it was.

"You sounded like you took a pretty bad fall back there," he said, a slight lisp to his words.

Nala took note of his short brown hair and black jacket as they passed under an overhead light. He removed his hand from her shoulder and turned to face her.

She hung her head, "I got lost on my way back from the bathroom and tripped over some wires."

He nodded and ran his eyes down her arms and legs, searching for injury, "Did you hurt yourself?"

Nala felt uncomfortable under his gaze, "Nope. I'm perfectly fine."

He spotted her oddly red knee and wanted to comment on it, but said nothing. He figured the poor girl had been embarrassed enough for one day and decided to leave her alone. He looked down at her and gave her a small smile.

"Take care of yourself, alright?"

Nala didn't meet his gaze, but simply nodded, "Thanks, Cody."

She heard him walk away and looked up to see his retreating back nearing the small group of pros that had gathered: John Morrison, the Miz, LayCool, and Kofi Kingston. She continued walking past the group , hoping to find a trainer so she could get a wrap or brace of sorts for her knee. She ran into someone and was sent falling backwards to the floor, landing flat on her butt right in front of the pros.

Her face flushed and she looked up to see the tower known as Mark Henry, who held out a hand and helped her to her feet.

"Sorry, Nala, I wasn't watching where I was going," he sincerely apologized.

Nala shook her head, "It's fine; don't worry about it."

She even mustered up a convincing smile for her favorite pro and kept walking. He gave her a gentle pat on the back and she continued walking, trying to keep her head held high. Her attempt at confidence didn't last for long seeing as not even a second later she was plowed over by Alex Riley.

"Watch it, tiny!" he said loudly, giving Nala a smirk as he kept walking and just left her on the floor. She couldn't tell if the smirk was because he was sorry but trying to stay in character before the show, or if he really was just a jackass.

She felt hands slip under her arms from behind and pull her up to her feet for what seemed like the one hundredth time that day. Gravity just wasn't her friend.

She turned around, naively thinking that maybe Alex had come back to help her up, but was surprised to see the Miz standing there instead.

The Miz, who introduced himself as Mike and insisted she call him that, really was the complete opposite of the character he portrayed on screen. Then again, he could snap into character at the blink of an eye, so she was actually pretty clueless as to what he was truly like.

He brushed her off lightly, making Nala step back slightly at the contact. Mike looked down at her and gave her a genuine smile.

"You'll have to excuse my rookie. He gets a little…excited before shows."

Nala managed to smile back and ran a hand through her curly brown hair, "It's okay."

She turned around, intending to continue trying to find a trainer, but was stopped mid-turn by Cody's voice.

"Hey, Nala, why don't you join us over here?"

Cody, she had noted, was also incredibly nice off screen and a bit of a jerk with his new gimmick on screen. Nala tried to hide her attraction to him, physically and personality wise, but it never did much good anyway. At least she had her shyness and ability to easily fluster to lay back on as an excuse for her behavior.

As much as she would love to stand and chat with pros in the business and maybe learn some backstage gossip and advice, she wouldn't exactly feel comfortable doing so.

"I don't know…"

"Come on, we won't bite! Well, I'm not sure about John, but-"

"Hey!" John yelled playfully. He smiled and laughed, Layla lighting smacking him on the arm.

"You know I was kidding."

Nala nervously wrung her hands together as she neared the group, head down. They probably thought she was just a little kid, which in the WWE she really was. Most of the wrestlers were at least a few years older than her, and the youngest ones were extremely talented. Nala herself had been working since before she even got out of high school to be in the WWE, and now she had her chance. Mr. McMahon must've seen something in her for him to want to bring her up so early, much as he had Drew McIntyre, even if she was only used backstage and in dark matches. She didn't mind; she was so honored to even be where she was right now that nothing else mattered.

"If you keep your head down like that all the time, you'll keep running into people," Cody said, smiling. She hadn't even realized that she had made her way around the circle so she was standing next to him and Mike. For some reason she just gravitated towards Cody and felt more comfortable closer to him than she did the other pros at this point. Maybe it was just because he was nothing but kind to her and helped her out without insulting her lack of grace or making fun of her.

Her mouth turned up at the corners at his friendly teasing, though she said nothing.

The pros continued to converse amongst themselves, being joined by Zack Ryder and MVP. Nala wondered where all of the rookies were, if all of the pros were already here.

She felt safer around the pros, who knew the business and how things were supposed to happen. They were calm and collected under pressure, even backstage. The rookies, on the other hand, didn't know how to handle themselves just yet and it worried Nala to be in their presence without a pro around.

A backstage assistant neared the group to tell them that the show taping was starting. LayCool scurried off to go find Kaval, while the rest of the pros calmly left to go find their own rookies. Mark gave Nala a pat on the head and ruffled her hair as he walked past, causing her to look up at him and return his smile. She was about to follow him when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Walk with me? Wouldn't want you to get lost again," Cody joked.

His smile was infectious and Nala found herself nodding as Cody returned his hand to his side. He nodded his head to where the other pros were headed and she followed him without a word.

She was more than happy to be Cody's shadow, at least for a little while.


End file.
